Retort-charger.



A. s. B. LITTLE.

BETOBT CHARGER.

APPLIOATIOH FILED MAE. 6,1909.

Patented 0ct.26, 1909.

LE/(L,

ATTORNEY.

"INVENTSR. AS'B'LLZtZ'e BY w 3 SHEETS-SHEET 1- WITNESSES.- I 4.

A. S. B; LITTLE.

I RETOR'I CHARGER;

APPLICATION FILED HAILB, 1909.

Patented Oct. 26, 1909.

a sums-4mm 2.

INVENTOR. v

, A's-B-Leztle- By ATTORNEY.

' WITNESSES.-

A. S, B. LITTLE.

BETORT CHARGER. I APPLICATION FILED 1AB.6,1909.

Patenjzed Oct. 26, 1909.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Y INVENTOR. A-S'B-LitZZw BY a:

WITNESSES.- r

A TTORNE Y.

l neman) s. B. LITTLE, or s'r. tours, MI SOURI.

amour-oneness.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 26, 1909.

Application filed. March 6,1909. 7 Serial No. 481,714.

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that I, ARCHIBALD S. B. Lrr- TLE, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in'Retort-Ohargers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, fornnng a part hereof. My invention has relation to improvements in retort chargers; and it consists in the novel details of-construction more fully set forth in the specification and pointed outin the claims.

In the drawings, Figure vention applied to a tier of retorts; Fig. 2

isa front elevation thereof; Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional and elevational detail of the coal hopper with telescopic extension or chute for delivering the coal to the charging scope for any elevation of the latter; Fig. 4 is a view at right angles to-Fig. 3; Fig. is a horizontal section on the line of Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is a detached View of the rake or bar by which the contents of any retort is dischar ed; Fig. 7 is a side elevation of a modified Form of scoop and clearing bar therefor; and Fig. 8 is an end elevation of Fig. 7 the front wall of the scoopand clearing and charging bars being removed.

' The present invention is specially concerned with charging apparatus for horizontal'retorts and primarily has for its obj ect to provide a charger which may be operated by hand, and that under perfect control of a single workman. K

A further object of the invention is to provide a charger which will insure ample protection to the workman against the heat from the retort; one which may be readily manipulated for charging and discharging; one made readily ad ustable to operate in connection with any particular retort at any' level from the floor; one providing means for the ready introduction of the charging scoop one in which the scoop may be filled either by hand,'or from-a hopper mounted on the charging frame; and-one possessing further and other advantages better appar ent from a-det-ailed description of the invention which is as follows:

Referring to the drawings, and for the present to Figs. 1 to '6 inclusive, R, R, R, mp 55 resent three superposed. tiers of retorts shown 1 is a side elevation of a frame showln'g one form of my inhereinconventionally, in.front of which is a track-rail T for the travel of the adja- F, the opposite side of the truck or that adj acent the retorts being provided with plain wheels W running onthe' inclined floor in front of the retorts. The frame F is built tural members, steel or. cast iron or both, the ends of the front and rear "walls of the frame being provided with upri 'ht angle-bars or guide posts 1, 1, (th0ug of course tees,

therefor), between each (pair of which are free to reciprocate up an down, the shields or plates 2, 2", the'rear plate 2 not beingabsolutely necessary as such, but might be re placed by a cross-bar of considerably smaller ertical dimensions, but yet of sufficient strength to support the charging'scoop to be presently referred to. The plates 2, 2 While serving as shields against the heat radiated from the mouth of the retort while being charged or discharged, at the same time serve as means for supporting the scoop and bar by which the charging and discharging is effected. Formed in each sheet or member 2, 2' is an opening 0, having a concave bottom through which the trough-like scoop S may be inserted, the bottoms of the shields being provided with rollers 3, 3, properly located for supporting the scoop so that the latter may freely travel back and forth as it is being inserted and Withdrawn during the charging operation. The rollers are mounted on brackets 4, 4, secured to the shields as .shown. The scoop is provided at its closed outerend with along handle or bar '5 for purposes of ready manipulation.

In order to raise or lower the scoop to the level of any tier of retorts provision is made shields 2, 2' guided in their bearings between the flanges of the uprights 1,1. This raising and lowering may be. accomplished in any mechanical manner, or by any suit able system-of gearing, and as an a convenient form of adjusting means I provide the following: Mounted in brackets 6, 6 at either end of the frame F, are shafts 7 carrying at their front ends the pulleys 8, 8, over which passes the cross chain 9 whereby rotation is imparted, to in oppositedirections. Atthe opposite ends up in any suitable way, out of various struc--- I-beams or channels might be substituted of the shafts 7 and also at the front end-ad- 2' cent wheels W of the truck of a steel frame I for raising and lowering the reciprocating example 'of I them simultaneously I of one of the shafts 7 is an operating pulley 12 over which passes an actuating chain 13,

one lap thereof bearing on an idler pulley 14 mounted to the frame F on the side of the adjacent upright 1. By drawing on the chain 13in proper direction, motion will be imparted to the shafts 7 and pulleys 8 to raise or lower theplates 2, 2, as clearly obvious froni the drawings. YVhen the plates 2, 2 with their scoop-full of coal'are adjusted to bring the bottom of the scoop into proper alinement with the retort .to be charged, the scoop is run into the retort,

iven a turn to the right when its contents are eposited into the retort. The scoop is then again filled. and run into the retort and given a turn to the left and again-its contents deposited in the retort. By first discharging the scoop in one direction and then the other, the charge is distributed evenly on the floor of the retort.

.,To discharge any retort I make the following provis1on:-Adjacent to the openings 0 in the plates 2, 2 are comparatively narrow openings O, at the bases ofwhich are mounted rollers 15. Over these rollers is passed a discharging bar 17 having a terminal hook 18 by which the charge is seized at the rear of the retort and dragged out, the bar bein given a proper turn to bring the hook or ger behind the charge.

The frame F may be advanced in front of the retorts on the rail T by any "approved form of gearing, or even pushed along by the workman, but I prefer to equip the same with a system of gearin which makes the shifting of the charger in front 013312116113 torts comparatively easy. This propelling mechanism-or gear is as follows, that'illustratedbeing only one example of what is possible. The shafts of the truck-wheels are provided at the front end with sprocket wheels 19 connectedby a chain 20, one of the shafts having mounted thereon a worm-gear 21-which is engaged by a worm-pinion 22 at;

the lower end of a staff 23 mounted in bear: ing brackets 24, the uppen end of the staff carrying a bevel pinion 25 meshing with a similar pinion 26 on the shaft 27 supported on the frameF. The shaft 27 is provided with a hand wheel 28, which, when turned in proper direction imparts the necessary rotation to the gear 21, and hence to -the truckshafts, thereby causing the frame Fto travel in proper direction in front of the series of .retort s.

The scoop S may be filled by hand or automatically from a hopper 30 mounted on the frame F. The mouth 31 of the hop- 'per' is normally closed by a pairof gravitat -'m proper direction the frame ma ing swinging doors or gates 32 hinged at the ends of theirterminalwings or arms 32 to the adjacent vertical walls of the mouth 31. From the pivotalpins 'of. the gates extend rigid links 33, 33,. which in turn are coupled to the toggle links 34: whose converging. ends are secured to a cable 35 passing over aguide-pulley 36 v(there being one set of links and acableon each side of the hopper 30) whence the two cables 35 pass over guide pulleys 37 and are joined in front and connected to a single cable 35' which passes over' a guide-pulley 37 secured to *an arm '38 projecting from the face of the hopper, By drawing on the cable 35 (Fig. 3) thegates 32 will be swung apart and the coal willbe discharged from the mouth ,of the hopper into the scoop positioned beneath the same.

In order to makeit possible to fill the. scoop at any elevation to which it may broughtfor charging any given retort, I make provision for conducting the coal after it leaves the hopper mouth 31 throu h a telescopic chute composed of a series o sections a, b,'c,'d, the last section d being secured to gghe-hop er by straps 39, the oppo site ends of the rst section a, being secured to the reciprocating screens. or plates 2," 2. It 1s obvious that as thelplates 2, 2 rise and fall for rals ng and lowermg the scoop supported there y for charging a retort at any.

given height from the floor,"the boltom' section a will rise and fall, and as itrise's it. will first pick up the section b, then 0, and as it falls the'section last picked u will first-settle down or drop into a positlon of suspension from the section immediately above, the telescopic chute thus contracting or expanding according. asthe scoop is raised or lowered, theseoop always occupymg a position immediately beneath the disthat by simply drawing on the cable 35 the charge mouth m of the bottom section a. So

coal maybe discharged into the scoop at any time and for any position of the scoop.

' B y releasing the cable 35 the gates 32 gravitate to a closed position and the'coal ischoked off. By'turning .the hand-wheel be a .vanced along ,the rail Tin front 0 any set of retorts asalready ex lained.

The scoop 'S is not t e only form which ma here be employed; and in Figs. 7 and 8 v I, s ow a form of scoop S which is carried on roller-trucks 40 traveling on rails T,-the rear ends of-the rails being provided with hinged extensions e which maybe swung into engagement with the bottom of the re-- tort so as-to close the gap between the retort and rear of the frame F, whereupon the scoo S is, rolled into the retort by pushing on't e charging-bar 4'1,'projecting from the front wall of the scoop. The latter is provided'with a movable wall or from which extends a. clearing bar passing loosely through the front fixed wall of the scoop.

42. This pushes the movable wall w against the charge in 1 the scoop which charge is finally pushed or scraped off the scoo intov the retort as the scoop is being with rawn. Of course the scoop S can be made of greater capacity than the scoop S, and a single charge is suificient for a retort, instead of two charges necessary with the scoop S. In other respects the apparatus operates the same as that described in connection with Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive.

Having described my invention what I claim is:

1. A retort charger comprising a frame movable in front of a battery of retorts, ver tically reciprocating scoop-carrying shields, mounted on the frame, a coal-hopper on the frame, and a telescopic chute interposed between the hopper and scoop and composed of a series of sections, the terminal members :of the series being secured to the shields and hopper respectively.

, frame Y and provid 2. A retort charger comprising a frame movable infront of a battery of retorts, vertically reciprocatin shields mounted on the means on t e frame in coupled relation to v with ways for the sup- .port of a charging scoop and for movement of the scoo to and from the retort, and

the 'shields for feedin the scoop with a fuel 7 charge while in any 0 its adjusted positions.

3. A retort charger comprising a frame movable in front of a battery of retorts, vertically reciprocating scoop-carrying shields mounted on the frame, rollers thereon for the support of the scoop, a coal hopper on the frame, and a telescopic chute interposed between the hopper and scoop and composed of a series of sections, the terminal members of the series being secured to the shields and hopper respectively;

LA retort charger comprising a frame movable in front of a battery'of retorts, vertically adjustable shields mounted on the frame and providedwithalining o enings for the insertion and support of a c argmg scoop, a coal hopper'mounted on the frame and provided with a gate-controlled discharge mouth, a chute composed of;a series I of telescopically connected sections the terminal members of the series being secured respectively, to the shields-and 'to the hopper and receiving the coal discharged through the-ho per mouth, and conductlng it to the scoop or any vertical elevation ofthe latter, said chute expanding and con-' tracting with the'lowering and. raising of the shields, respectively. v

In testimon whereof I afiix my signature,

in presence 0 twowitnesses.

. vWitnesses:

EMIL STAREK, J 05. A. M'IoHnL.

ARGHIBALD s. B.LI:' ITLE. 

